


where farewells end

by moth_writes



Series: calling ground control [7]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: (mentioned: minor character death | a funeral | surgery), F/M, Goodbyes, M/M, POV Aaron Minyard, Twinyards Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27403147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moth_writes/pseuds/moth_writes
Summary: Five time Aaron has to say goodbye and one time he doesn't.
Relationships: Aaron Minyard & Andrew Minyard, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: calling ground control [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991023
Comments: 2
Kudos: 76
Collections: Twinyards Appreciation Week 2020





	where farewells end

**Author's Note:**

> My last fic for [Twinyards Appreciation Week 2020!](https://twinyardsappreciationweek.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Prompt: Goodbyes

1.

Aaron leans over his mother’s closed casket.

He thinks he should be crying. Maria is, and Nicky is, but he can’t make himself.

He wonders if Andrew would cry. He’s in the hospital awaiting minor surgery to get some of the deeper pieces of shrapnel out of his leg, and Aaron’s almost glad he isn’t here.

Andrew had requested the surgery be put off until after the funeral. It wasn’t serious, preventive measures more than anything, so his doctors had agreed. They thought he wanted to be awake to mourn his mother.

Aaron knows Andrew isn’t mourning. He knows Andrew wouldn’t cry over their mother’s death. His mother, really, as Andrew reminds him so often.

Aaron presses his forehead to the cold wood of the coffin and mouths the prayer he’s heard his uncle say so many times.

_ Goodbye, Mother. _

  
  


2.

Aaron graduates high school with little fuss.

He and Andrew go to the ceremony for Nicky’s sake, because he’s been begging them since they started senior year and he had hope they would actually graduate.

They both flat out refuse to go to any dances, and Nicky coincides the point with minimal sighing and arguing and sad puppy-dog eyes. Instead, they go out to dinner in a restaurant they actually sit down in that Nicky doesn’t work at for once.

Aaron says goodbye to his old classmates, knowing he’ll never see them again. Knowing he doesn’t want to.

He leaves for college with his brother and his cousin and doesn’t look back.

  
  





Aaron watches Nicky pack.

They’ve graduated. All of them, and now they’re leaving.

Aaron’s going back to school to get the next degree he needs with Katelyn going to the same.

Andrew is going pro, moving into an apartment for a year while he waits for Josten to graduate.

And Nicky.

Nicky’s leaving the US, flying out to Germany to be with Erik.

Aaron thinks about how excited Nicky’s been for the last few months. He’s been stuck here, chose to stay here for them and now he gets to go home.

Aaron will miss him.

Nicky had settled down a lot in the past few years. The combination of regular therapy, worrying less about his cousins, and not having his parents shadow his mind has made something in Nicky shift.

It was like he grew into his own skin.

Aaron hugs Nicky goodbye and ignores the tears soaking into his hair.

  
  


4.

Aaron stands in front of Coach’s office and stares at the door.

He’s trying to convince himself to knock, to just do it. But he can’t seem to make his arms lift, his hands fist.

Aaron takes a deep breath in and exhales slowly. He lifts his hand, lays it flat on the door, wills Coach to know he’s there.

Then the door opens and Aaron’s hand falls back to his side.

“Minyard?” Coach says, a reflex. He takes a second to look at him, then decides “Aaron.”

“Coach,” Aaron says quietly. “I came to say goodbye. I leave tomorrow.”

Coach pauses, looks at him. “I know. Was about to come find you, actually.” He motions Aaron in and closes the door behind them.

Coach goes back behind his desk and Aaron sits in the chair in front of it.

Wymack pulls a bag from his drawer. It’s the kind gifts come in, strangely shiny and stapled closed at the top.

He hands it to Aaron. “Don’t open it yet,” Coach tells him seriously, “wait until you get back to the dorms.”

And he steps forward, holding out his hand.

Aaron considers it, then brushes it aside and hugs Coach tightly.

Only for a moment-Coach doesn’t even get his arms around Aaron before he’s stepping back, mumbling a quick goodbye and leaving.

Wymack stands for a second, stunned, before he smiles and laughs. 

Aaron’s definitely still an asshole, but he has his moments.

  
  


5.

Katelyn leaves for her residency.

Aaron watches her pack, feeling some sort of nameless melancholy. He’d help her, he tried to, but Katelyn is every bit the perfectionist and wants to do it herself.

She’s catching a flight tomorrow morning, will be gone long before Aaron wakes up. 

She finished her general residency and was accepted into the best cardiothoracic residency in the state. Aaron only had one year of general and was well into his neurosurgeon one, so he couldn’t follow her across state.

They’d already had dinner, had even gone out to a fancy restaurant. Aaron had thought about the ring box in his drawer the whole time, but it wasn’t right to spring it on her when she was about to leave.

Katelyn sets her packed suitcase next to the door and sits on the bed next to him. He reaches, and she takes his hand, presses her lips against his knuckles.

They sit in silence for a while before Aaron leans into her slowly, wrapping his arms around her waist. She lays hers on his shoulders, presses their foreheads together. 

They sit like that, just breathing, saying goodbye.

  
  


+1

Andrew and Neil buy the house next to his and Katelyn’s.

They claim it was unintended, that they hadn’t meant to, but when Andrew looks Aaron in the eye and says a deadpan _ I didn’t remember you lived here _ , Aaron knows it’s on purpose.

They both know they have perfect memories. Andrew can recite the addresses of every house he’s lived in, he damn well remembers Aaron’s.

Aaron pretends to be annoyed to their faces, but he likes it. He and Andrew were so far apart for so long, it’ll be nice being able to just see him casually.

Even if he has to deal with Josten, the pain in the ass. If Aaron has to keep watching him flat-out  _ sprint  _ up and down the street every morning he’s going to do something drastic. (Like start mowing his lawn at five in the morning, or spraying water directly through their open window when he waters the garden.)(When did he get so domestic?)

He and Katelyn, between wedding planning (she’d ended up proposing first, the day before he planned to) and taking shifts at the hospital.

He has a dog, a pit bull Katelyn insisted they needed to bring home, and Andrew’s cats sleep on his porch on sunny days. 

He’s almost married to the love of his life, with his brother next door and weekly calls with his cousin. Aaron’s a college graduate, a certified doctor, an ex-addict clean for near two decades.

He’s built a life for himself.

And he won’t have to say goodbye again.


End file.
